The Arrangement
by bethandjack16
Summary: To capture the heart of Jack Thornton, Julie sends more responsible Elizabeth to his town.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, everyone, it's here! The first half of the first chapter of The Arrangement! I really, really like it, and I hope you will too. Thank you for your patience! It's also a bit longer that I have been doing, which I think is great! Please, please, please review! It's appreciated.**

 **Julie**

If only Julie could find the perfect pair of shoes. Walking down the street of perfect boutiques full of expensive clothes, accessories, shoes, and everything a Hamilton girl could want, she swung her purse as her driver (she could never remember his name) struggled with her bags. The car was all the way on the other end of the street, and Julie, though a nice girl, couldn't let the driver run down there to drop off the bags. He was not supposed to leave her, and Julie was _not_ walking down to the car with him. Dirty, smelly old thing. Well, not really, but still!

She had been to three stores already trying to find those shoes that would match her gold gown for Elizabeth's return home party. Mother had been planning it for weeks, since Elizabeth's last visit at the break for the spring. Julie spotted one of her old favorites that she had forgotten, the Rose Boutique, and walked faster toward it. Her heels clacking, driver behind her almost dropping a bag, she made good time towards the shop – until her right heel stuck in a crack in the pavement, and down she went.

It really was romantic that she fell the way she did. There was a sharp twist of her ankle (oh, the humiliation! She had been trained to walk in heels since practically birth!), then Julie tried to pull her shoe out of the crack, but lost her balance. It all happened in a matter of two seconds. The ground was rushing up to her perfectly made-up face when it stopped two inches from her nose.

Glancing to her waist, Julie saw gloved fingers holding her up. She scrambled up to see the man connected to the hands. Her eyes went up from his brown boots, perfectly polished, to his pants and then the red serge with gold buttons. Obviously, he was a Mountie, and a cute one too! He really was very handsome, in a roguish sort of way. That attracted Julie. His whole outfit looked perfectly put together.

All this seen in a blink of an eye. Julie had the unique ability to assess a man's eligibility very quickly.

"Ma'am, are you all right?" the Mountie asked, clearly worried for her ankle. Oh, her ankle. Now that she thought about it, it was giving her a throbbing pain. Tears filled Julie's eyes, but she hid them. That was another thing she was good at.

"I'm fine, thank you…" Julie spoke, ending on a questioning tone.

"Constable Jack Thornton," the Mountie replied, still with a concerned look in his eye.

"Thank you, Constable," Julie said primly, walking away and promptly stumbling. She cried out in pain. The throb increased.

Constable Thornton looked around quickly. His eyes seized quickly on a bench a few boutiques down. It was the closest one in sight. Seeming to make a decision, he scooped Julie up in his arms and walked toward the bench.

Julie, despite her pain, was thrilled to be held by this very attractive Mountie. His concern for her and his general manner had ruled out any possibilities of him being a true rogue, like her romance novels, but gentlemen could also be romantic too. She thought she had a couple less scandalous novels on her shelf.

Jack – since she was hoping to be on familiar terms with him, she went ahead and thought his first name – deposited her on the bench. Kneeling, he paused and then asked a little shyly, "Could I look at your ankle?"

Julie nodded. This gentlemanly thing was growing on her. Jack lifted her skirt just enough to glance at her right ankle. He turned it this way and that, examining it for any signs of soreness, swelling, or bruising. It was pretty black and blue. It hurt most when he pressed on the left side of the ankle, and it was a little swelled. It wasn't twisted at a weird angle, luckily.

Still, Jack shook his head and stood. Julie stared up at him, and he seemed to actually notice what she looked like. Julie knew she was pretty. Her red hair and green eyes pretty much guaranteed the attention of every man she met. This pleased her parents – it was much easier to get a wealthy husband for a pretty Thatcher daughter than one who wasn't. And, to their good fortune, there weren't any plain Thatcher sisters. They were all pretty unique, and independent.

Jack spoke suddenly. "I think we had better get you down to the hospital. There's one close to this street." He glanced over to the driver – Mulligan, that was it – and asked, "are you this young lady's driver?"

"Yes," Mulligan replied gruffly. Julie could see his discomfort in the situation; he was supposed to protect her and instead this young Mountie had saved Julie from her certainly lethal danger.

"Is there a car near, and if so, which direction?" Jack said politely.

"Down that way," the driver said, and pointed with outstretched arm back the way they had come. Jack promptly picked Julie up again in his strong, steady arms and began walking to the car.

Julie decided to venture an attempt at talking to Jack. "I'm sure I don't need to go to the hospital. It's only a twisted ankle." She realized she had left her heel behind. She spoke around Jack's neck, "Could you grab my heel? I left it by the bench." The driver subtly huffed and turned around to go back again.

"You do need to go to the hospital," Jack argued. "All injuries need to be reported there, and we don't know for sure exactly what type of injury you have. They will know better than I do." Julie sighed, but nodded her head in agreement.

"Are you going to come with me there?"

"Probably, since I am a basic witness to what happened."

"It isn't a courtroom." Julie instantly regretted her statement. It could put Jack off from coming.

"I know," Jack replied, grinning. "I want to make sure my new friend is all right before I leave her behind." His voice was happy and had the hint of a joking tone. "If we _are_ friends." At this he looked at her questioningly. Julie nodded enthusiastically and Jack grinned again, then continued, "I kind would like to know your name."

Julie paused for a moment. She _really_ liked this guy, but he wasn't from a rich part of town. He wasn't rich at all – she could tell from his comfortableness around her, without formality. He obviously knew she was rich, but would he still like her if she told him that she was Thatcher-rich? Probably not…

"Just Julie," she said finally.

"No last name?" Jack asked.

"Nope. I'm not going to give my full name to a stranger," Julie joked with a large, fake smile on her face.

"Ok," Jack said, accepting. "As long as you're not a criminal hiding her identity." Julie giggled a little.

The pair arrived at the Thatcher car. Jack sat Julie down on the seat on the right side, then got in himself on the left side. Mulligan stepped in a few minutes later – Julie heard a few joints crack – handed the heel to Julie, and started the car.

"Where are you from?" asked Julie in curiosity.

Jack smiled. "A little town down south. You wouldn't know it."

A small town. Julie didn't know anyone from a small town. "What did you like to do there?"

Jack smiled softly. "One of my favorite things to do was chop wood. It was a chore, and I didn't really like it till I was 17 or 18, but it let me get rid of a lot of my stress and sadness. I would do it for some of the widows around town, and they would give me a few pennies for my trouble. I'd do it for Ma since Pa was…gone…" Julie immediately put on a sad face, not in a fake way, but not knowing how to properly comfort him otherwise. "I liked to do it for everyone.

"I liked playing games with my friends at school, and over the summer. My favorite was baseball. I was good. I wasn't a pitcher, but I was a great batter. Everyone wanted me on their team."

"You were popular?" Julie asked.

"Yes, I was well-liked. After Pa died, people avoided me a little."

Julie couldn't contain her curiosity anymore. "What happened to him?"

Jack turned to look out at the buildings passing by. "He was a Mountie. He got a head injury, and he came home and was put out of commission. He died in bed later on. He promised to teach me how to be a man, but he never did. So I became a Mountie, because it was one of the ways I could be like him."

Julie could feel a few tears coming to the corners of her eyes, from both Jack's story and the dull pain still lingering in her ankle.

Jack continued. "Anyway, the boys were all a little scared of me after he died. I did my best to act normal and happy, and slowly life became normal and happy again. I had friends again too."

Julie asked after a pause, "How did you come to be here?"

Jack looked at her, surprised. "It's where the Academy assigned me."

Julie laughed a little. "You probably think I must not know anything." Jack looked about to deny it, but she interrupted. "Mountie procedure just isn't a part of my life. I never had a need to know anything about them. My life is concerned with my two sisters, Viola and Elizabeth, and what book I'm going to read next." Well, the mention of her interest of books should intrigue him. She wasn't a book person, but she was always looking for her next romance novel, so what she said wasn't technically a lie…

"Are your sisters nice?" Jack asked her.

"Oh, they're my best friends in the world!" Julie said in almost a squeal. "Viola and I go shopping together, and Elizabeth and I talk about all her new adventures."

"What adventures?"

"She teaches in a school across Hamilton. Soon she's going to move to frontier town to teach."

Jack smiled. "That sounds like a brave sister you have. I'd like to meet her sometime." Julie was a little against that. No way was she introducing her man to her charming sister. Jack would probably prefer Elizabeth over Julie.

Julie desperately looked for a way to change the subject. Luckily, the car pulled up in front of the hospital and Mulligan made a move to get out.

"Oh, that's all right, sir," Jack said, stopping him. "I can carry Miss Julie inside and if you'd go park the car, it would be very helpful." Mulligan grunted in acquiescence and tipped his hat. Jack jumped out, ran to Julie's side, helped her out, and scooped her up for the third time. Julie settled into his arms (hopefully discreetly) as they walked through the revolving door.

 **All done with chapter one part one! Can't tell you what a relief it is to have something out for you guys finally. I'd love a review, and if you can't think of anything to say, at least tell me whether you think the writing is on the same level as the other chapters I wrote. And tell me if I made any technical errors. Love you all!**


	2. Update on What on Earth is Happening!

**Hey everyone. Been a while! I'm sorry. I have been traveling without my laptop which is the place that all my docs are, so I didn't work on it at all for two weeks. Then during the past month I've become a bit Avengers-obsessed… I became a Loki stan, and my fellow Loki stans know exactly how much energy it takes to be one! Anyway, When Calls the Heart became less important to me. When season 5 comes out on Netflix I probably will be a lot more excited!**

 **BTW, I'm writing a Loki fanfic in my head nowadays. It'll come out on this site someday. It's what I'm focusing most of my fanfic energy on right now.**

 **So, don't expect to see any more of this fanfic any time soon, though maybe by the end of the year. I'm sorry to disappoint anyone. I do love you.**


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